Wofford College declared a ONE campus

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford College has announced its partnership with the ONE Vote ’08 campaign and proclaimed itself a ONE Campus. The college’s board of trustees adopted the language of the proclamation supporting education and action related to extreme poverty and disease around the world. President Benjamin B. Dunlap signed the proclamation during a ceremony in Leonard Auditorium last week.

The proclamation states, “Wofford College always has sought to educate its faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends about the devastating impact of extreme poverty and preventable disease around the world, and to urge them to take action in local communities to bring about change.”

The goal of the ONE Campus initiative is to encourage students to become aware and informed and to inspire them to become leaders who engage their peers in the movement against extreme global poverty and health issues. Through this process, ONE will grow into a large and active group of college students and quickly seed campus-based chapters around the country. Wofford College is the fourth ONE Campus in South Carolina. They join Clemson University, Claflin University and College of Charleston.

The official text of the proclamation is as follows:

WOFFORD COLLEGEONE CAMPUS DECLARATION

WHEREAS, healthy people and healthy communities are the centerpieces of any strong and vibrant society; and

WHEREAS, directing additional resources for basic needs – education, health, clean water, food and care for orphans – could transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries, where every three seconds a child dies from illnesses associated with extreme poverty; and

WHEREAS, ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, is an unprecedented non-partisan effort by Americans to rally Americans, ONE by ONE, to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease globally; and

WHEREAS, ONE involves more than 2.4 million people from all 50 states and more than 100 of America’s most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations, including the United Methodist Church; and

WHEREAS, Wofford College always has sought to educate its faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends about the devastating impact of extreme poverty and preventable disease around the world, and to urge them to take action in local communities to bring about change; and

WHEREAS, today, October 17, is being observed on campuses all across America as “ONE Day to Make Poverty History;”

NOW, THEREFORE, with the approval of the Board of Trustees, I, Benjamin B. Dunlap, with the support of Martha Albergotti on behalf of the student body, do hereby proclaim Wofford College to be a ONE Campus.

In South Carolina alone, ONE Vote ’08 is mobilizing more than 15,000 ONE members this primary season, encouraging the presidential candidates to make commitments to address issues such as the lack of clean water and basic education worldwide at campaign stops, debates, town halls and coffee shops across the state.

ONE Vote ’08 is focusing on South Carolina and the other early primary states -- Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire -- to build a grassroots movement to encourage America’s next president to save lives and secure America’s future. ONE Vote ’08 is co-chaired nationally by former Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle.